Hi guys! Welcome to another guide at Web Junkies Blog. This time around, I will be sharing my views on the different skills of a Ranger in Ragnarok Online 2 and what I think are the best skills to get when you are this class.

But before that, let me share some things that I have discovered about Ranger class in Ragnarok Online 2.

First, this class is superb in terms of range (duhh.. of course :D). In fact, they are proud of harassing and killing enemies within a distance. However, Rangers don't do extreme damage as you think. Their damage can chip away the life of an opponent, little by little instead of doing one shot burst damage.

Secondly, don't believe those guys who are saying that you should invest more stats (or even go pure) on Agility as they say that it's the best stat for a Ranger. This is very wrong! I have found out that this class is dependent not only on AGI but also in STR. Do take note that STR boost the attack power of a class (which is perfect for a Ranger) while AGI does increase your critical damage and rate and, your evasion rate also. Don't try to build a Ranger without any raw damage and pure critical! Just imagine this: You crit a lot but all those criticals are pretty low because you don't have high base damage to support them. Personally, I balance the distribution of stat points to STR and AGi and the rest to VIT for some HP and HP regen.

And lastly, always remember that this class is squishy and easy to kill at close range. That is why I strongly suggest that you must always be aware of the danger in your surroundings and most of all, maintain a safe distance from your enemy (take note that the range of this class is from 15 to 20 meters).

Now let us proceed to what I dubbed as the Best Ranger Skill Build in Ragnarok Online 2.

Ranger Skill Explanation
Before we proceed to skill builds for Ranger, let us first know each skills for us to be able to determine which skill will suit our build.

Arrow Impact- This skill will cause damage to the enemy and will slow their movement speed by 40% for 5 seconds. It may be a good skill to have if it has no cool down but it does have. As a matter of fact, for this to be casted every 4 seconds, you need to level it to 5 which is not suggested. Why? It's because the damage increment is pretty low and the percent of movement speed decrease doesn't increase. Personally, I just use this skill as my first skill in my rotation to slow targets and not to deal damage. I suggest that you do the same by leveling this skill to 1.

Acrobatic- Your main escape skill. This skill will enable you to step back and maintain a safe distance a Ranger needs. Remember that this class is squishy and you definitely need this escape skill on your arsenal.

Multi Shot- This skill will let a Ranger shoot a cone of arrow in front of him, within a range of 7 meters and can hit 3 enemies utmost. Personally, I don't use this skill in my rotation. I only have this skill for prerequisite.

Charged Arrow- Shoots a Charged Arrow which causes decent damage and can acquire 15 Focus. This is one of the primary skill you will use every day. It has a 3 seconds cool down and has a 20 meters range. The only downside of this skill is its long casting time but that can be fix by the next skill.

Charged Arrow Mastery- This can fic the long casting of your Charged Arrow. At max level, it will decrease its casting time by 0.60 seconds which makes your casting 1 second (obviously :D) for Charged Arrow.

Double Strafing- Perfect to be paired with Charged Arrow. Just think of this skill as an extra damage output skill. The damage is pretty decent once it has been casted and the cool down is pretty low which makes it a desirable skill for our long range mercenary.

Important Note: Do take note that every Double Strafin costs 30 Focus. That is why you need those skills which can acquire Focus to be casted first.

Owl's Eye- This is a passive skill which makes your Charged Arrow spamming worth while. Take note that this swill enable you to fire two charge arrows in a row and the best part is, it will increase your attack damage for 10 seconds. Talk about permanent bonus damage as your Charged Arrow's cool down is only 10 seconds!

Improve Concentration- Like other classes, Ranger has also a buff which increase a certain stat for 30 minutes. For this class, this buff will increase his Dexterity and as well as his party's DEX (AGI).

Traps
Do take note that the following skills that will be mentioned below will only be activated if a target has step on it or the life span of the skill on the field has expired. After these skills has been placed, it will be invisible to the opponents.

Ankle Snare- A trap which holds a target in place for 10 seconds. This skill is pretty awesome to have in PVE especially when you are soloing a boss. Just imagine what you can do for 10 seconds while the boss is a sitting duck. In PVP however, pro players don't get easily fooled by traps as if an opponent is too observant on his surroundings, he will definitely know where you have place the trap and avoid it.

Claymore Trap- A damage over time trap. If someone has step on this trap, it will then explode and cause damage and, also burn the target for 10 seconds (burn effect activates every 2 seconds). Personally I hate this skill. The explosion is pretty weak and the DOT is weak also and in fact, I had never used this skill, not even once as a Ranger. But the sad truth is, you still need to invest points in this skill once you have decided to become a Falcon Ranger.

Freezing Trap- Compared to Claymore Trap, this skill may help you like Ankle Snare. Once a target has stepped on it, he will be slowed by 40% for 10 seconds which you can then use as the time to widen the gap between you and your opponent, while dealing damage.

Ranger Skill TreeFalcon's Eye- Resets all cool down instantly once this skill is casted. Well, it might be a good skill to max if it weren't for the very long cool down and besides, only a few skills of Ranger has very long cool down. That being said, this skill is pretty useless to invest a lot of points just to lower its cool down. The only up side I can think of in using this skill is it can also reset Wind Walk which will give you more attack speed and movement speed.

Arrow Shower- This is an AOE skill which lets you hit 10 enemies within the area of shower. Pretty cool isn't it? Well in reality however, it's not that cool. Concentrated attacks (any combination of your primary skills) can easily outdamage this skill plus, do take note that this skill has a 1.5 casting time which makes it more undesirable despite of its AOE. The only thing I can think of for using this skill is on PVP where you are facing Rogue/Assassins. When you have manage to hit these classes with this skill while they are Hiding, it will break their invisibility.

Wind Walk- Who doesn't love th 120% boost in Attack Speed and 50% increased in movement speed? As a Ranger, this is the skill which will make you more elusive and do more damage to the enemy per seconds.

Main Ranger- This skill will give you a chance that your Double Strafe skill won't consume any Focus. By that, you can cast two DS in average if this skill procs. This skill is perfect when you have decided to get Fear Breeze which enhances your attack speed when using DS.

Focused Arrow Strike- Yet another useless DOT skill IMO. The damage is not that significant and as well as the damage over time. Just add one point on this skill if you are planning to be a Vulcan Ranger.

Poison Arrow- The damage increment per level of this skill is not that significant but the damage (poison) over time is. Take note that every 2 seconds, the poison effect which deals 21% (max level) of your physical damage will trigger and, it lasts for 30 seconds. If you have extra points, do invest it on this skill.

Fear Breeze- When a Double Strafe is casted, this skill provs giving you additional attack speed. At max level, it will give you 2% attack speed every time Double Strafe cast which is pretty awesome! However, do take note that it can only stack 5 Breeze which only means that it will give you 10% more attack speed utmost. The effect will last for 30 seconds and to tell you honestly, you can't really keep that attack speed every time as there are factors like cool down of skills and Focus Acquisition which will hinder you from maintaining that attack speed. Normally, the additional attack speed will fluctuate from 2-10% depending on circumstances. Well, even if it has a weak side, like it or not, you still need this skill (the 5 Breeze) to cast Arrow Vulcan.

Arrow Vulcan- You may call this as one of your ultimate skill as a Ranger. Many players preferred this than Falcon Assault as the A.I bird is pretty dumb sometimes. Do take note that this skill needs 5 Fear Breeze to be casted. This skill will allow you to fire a barrage of arrows to the enemy and each hit has a chance to be critical hits. What I love most about this skill is that the damage increment is pretty high when level up further and also, it will reset the poison effect of your Poison Arrow which means that you will have more chances of dealing constant damage to the enemy.

Camouflage- This skill will give you the ability to hide your presence in your surroundings and lessen the capability of monsters to detect you in half. Also, when this skill is used, your first attack out from hiding will be double damage. But here's the catch: Your movement speed will significantly decrease and you can only cast this skill when you are out from combat. However, if you do choose to max it, there will be no drawbacks.

Personal Thoughts: I really don't get it why the developer added this skill for Ranger. With this class having a very significant advantage in terms of range and positioning, do we still have to hide ourselves from the enemy? I really don't like being a sneaky type when it comes to being a range class as it makes me look more gay :D. I think the range advantage is pretty enough for this class. But to make it fair, I really appreciate the double damage you will inflict once you get out from hiding.

Camouflage Mastery- This passive skill will give you additional movement speed while using Camouflage.

Falcon Assault- Summon a Falcon which will attack a target for 30 seconds. The bird will apply 30% of your physical damage (at max level) to the enemy every 2 seconds. As I have said before, the bird is pretty dumb SOMETIMES as it will hit targets that you don't want him to. However, the extra damage is pretty desirable. Think of this, while you are casting all your concentrated attacks, the falcon will damage the enemy dealing extra damage. That is why Falcon Ranger are considered to have an advantage in DPS than Vulcan Ranger.

Now that we know the different skills of a Ranger, it's time to share to you my preferred skill builds for this class. There are two builds that I would like to share to you: Falcon Ranger and Vulcan Ranger.

Falcon Ranger
Take the Falcon Assault. This build will allow you to do lots of damage as a Ranger. Take note that while doing your concentrated attacks or what I call as combo string attacks, your trusty Falcon will also damage the target. However, do take note that you must trust the A.I on this one :). In addition to that, you have the luxury to use traps in this build. Here is the build:

Falcon Ranger Skill Build

Vulcan Ranger
Take the Arrow Vulcan. This build will allow you to do more critical hits as Arrow Vulcan has high chance of triggering critical hits and also, it will allow you to do constant damage to a target as the poison effect will be triggered at the very end of the skill. Here is the build: